When, on your bike, you come to a complete stop at every stoplight and stop sign, and never yourself jaywalk when in New York, then you may complain about enforcement of jaywalking here. I have never known any bicyclist to obey all traffic laws, although I have known many, many complaining, entitled bicyclists.

Always ride your bike at such speed that you can control it at all times. If you crash into a pedestrian, you were not controlling your speed.

I personally never understood this type of cyclist behavior. It reminds me of when cars jockey around to gain one place at the next red light. When you hit red lights with heavy pedestrian or motorized cross traffic, chances are good by the time you finally get through you’ll be only a few seconds ahead of those who just waited for the light to change. When you consider the stress you cause yourself and everyone around you trying to thread your way through a crowded intersection it’s totally not worth it. I’m a big fan of Idaho stops, even Idaho yields as I practice them. But there’s a time and place for everything. I save serious time and avoid the stress of being in packs of accelerating cars by passing quiet intersections, especially those with long light cycles. Moreover, it’s safe doing that if I don’t pass through faster than lines of sight allow. However, when intersections are crowded, I don’t even bother. I just wait for the light to go green. I’m not going to make an ass out of myself trying to thread my way through pedestrians and motor vehicles. It’s dangerous for one thing. And often by the time I finally get through, the light will be going green anyway.

This is a key problem: so many bicyclists do NOT follow simple common sense safety practices and are incredibly self-involved and entitled. Quite a few are also on their phones, even texting.

Your post doesn’t make a bit of sense. All I did was matter of factly tell the person who asked if he/she walked a bike through a red light that red light laws aren’t enforced on pedestrians here. I didn’t say they should be. As for people walking not threatening others safety, that’s BS. I’ve read plenty of stories of people who crossed without looking and ended up causing bicycles or cars trying to avoid them to crash.

The LAPD will throw you to the ground Rodney King style if they nail you for jaywalking.

So maiming and killing with an automobile can incur less of a fine than failure to yield on a 20lbs bike? Police enforce culture, not reasonable laws.

The biggest joke here is that this stretch of Chrystie is loaded with vehicles in the bike lane, some using it as an extra lane, some loading building supplies, some just sitting there while the driver texts. Also, middle of the street u-turns, busses with their tails hanging in the bike lanes, pedestrians, food vendors, bottle collectors.It’s one of the most unsafe lanes for bikers. I have NEVER seen the police ticket or ask drivers to move. If the NYPD were really interested in safety, they would ticket all that. I saw this police action yesterday and missed getting a ticket by only a few seconds. It was pretty gross.

Please. The posting and the overwhelming number of comments are making the following point: this is a T intersection and thus one where bikers stand very little chance of doing themselves or anyone else any harm. The posting specifically points to other place that the NYPD could be targeting cyclists if they really want use enforcement to foster safe riding.

And if you’ve had more close calls with bikes than with cars, you must never drive, since drivers primarily endanger each other–they just magically forget that the moment the subject of bikes comes up.

I say all this as someone who is as law-abiding a bicyclist as there can be. In the abstract, I have no problem with police enforcement of cycling. But when it’s crap like this, I find it outrageous.

Though the dreaded “newbie bikers” are on everyone’s tongues when CIti Bike comes up, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone who looks particularly inexperienced on one. I know I’ve seen them on regular bikes, particularly on weekends or early in the spring.

If anything, I’d bet that, right now, since we’re still in the very early adoption phase, the percentage of people riding Citi Bikes who are experienced riders in New York is higher than it is on regular bikes–or at least not much different.

Pure speculation, of course. And maybe it’s my Brooklyn-centered perspective. But I think the claims about newbie bikers misbehaving on Citi Bikes are seriously overstated.

Are you serious? “Kudos to the cops”? How about your local precinct sets up a sting and nails you and many others with a $125 jaywalking ticket for starting to cross the street after the red hand starts blinking? TECHNICALLY you’re breaking the letter of the law. I’m sure they’ll argue that they still can make it with plenty of time, but we just can’t trust people to interpret the law safely.

Have you ever heard the phrase “The letter, but not the spirit of the law”? Because that applies here. The police should not be in the business of targeting minor infractions that are not actually causing any danger. It’s a waste of resources.